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Kingdom of the Stormlands
The Kingdom of the Stormlands 'is one of the constituent regions of Westeros and is a sovereign nation ruled by the Kings of the Stormlands, more commonly known as the Storm Kings. The region is so-named for the savage and frequent autumn storms that batter the coast after beginning in the Summer Sea. There are no cities in the Stormlands due to the strong martial culture of the Storm Lords, but larger fortresses such as Bronzegate are often supported by several small towns. The Stormlands are ruled by House Durrandon from the stronghold of Storm's End. Bastards of noble origins are given the surname Storm. The Kingdom of the Stormlands enjoys a number of trade routes with the Free Cities of Tyrosh and Lys. Geography The Stormlands are bordered to the north by the Dusklands, west by the Reach, south by the Greenbelt and the Sea of Dorne, in the extreme south by the Torrentine, and east by Shipbreaker Bay and the narrow sea. They are one of the smaller regions of Westeros, a land of harsh mountains, stony shores, and verdant forests, including the kingswood and the rainwood along Cape Wrath. Major rivers include the Slayne and part of the Wendwater. The Dornish Marches, located in the south-west in a long salient along the Red Mountains, serve as an effective buffer zone between the stormlands and their old enemies of the Reachmen and Dornish. For centuries it was a regular battleground, and still is to this day. A few islands, including Tarth and Estermont, are also considered part of the Stormlands. Ships coming across the narrow sea avoid the notorious Shipbreaker Bay and its storms, though the seas along the Stormlands can be clear and blue. The waters around Tarth are particularly famed for their clear blue color, earning Tarth the name "Sapphire Isle." History The Regency of Durran XXVII Durrandon ''Full article: The Regency of King Durran XXVII Durrandon For eighteen years after Durran XXVII's birth, a series of regency councils and regents would rule in his stead. The resulting eighteen years of instability would grant to King Edmund I Gardener the opportunity to seize the Dornish Marches, an affront that would go un-corrected for nearly two decades. The Reign of King Durran XXVII Durrandon Upon ending the odious regency, Durran issued a summons to all those sworn to Storm's End. Each man swore anew his fealty, and Durran crowned himself the Storm King before them all. His first act as King was to order Lord Toyne to assemble a host of Stormlanders, the largest possible, and prepare them to march. The Stormlands would be retaking its lands from House Gardener. King Durran XXVII Durrandon and his two closest friends, Ser Tommard Mertyns and Ser Rolland Wagstaff, assumed command of the host assembled by Lord Toyne. At once they began a southward march toward Blackhaven, one of the main keeps occupied by the Reachmen. While the Reachmen under King Edmund Gardener assembled a host of their own, King Durran arrived beneath the blackstone walls of Blackhaven and called for its occupiers to surrender. They refused, and in what became known as the Liberation of Blackhaven the beleaguered Dondarrions murdered Ser Randyll Ashford and threw open the gates of their keep, allowing the Stormlanders to slaughter the Reachmen within the walls. Too late to save Blackhaven, the host of King Edmund Gardener marched for Nightsong, another of the major keeps they had taken. It was here that they met the victorious Durrandon men, and the Reach and the Stormlands engaged in earnest in the Battle of the Marcher Hills. In the decisive engagement King Durran slew his opposite, King Edmund, and the Reachmen left the field and made for Nightsong. Despite harrying they arrived, and devised a plan to lure the Stormlords to their doom beneath the walls of Harvest Hall. They yielded Nightsong to the Stormlands, and feigned a retreat to the seat of House Selmy-- King Durran followed closely. Before Harvest Hall the Stormlanders found the Reachmen arrayed in a battle line, prepared for them. Despite his lords' counsel, King Durran pressed the attack immediately. In a costly opening stage of the fight he managed to cleave through the Gardener host, but quickly found himself flanked by newly-arrived reinforcements lead by House Hightower and its vassals. Lord Tommard Mertyns reformed his lines to face the new arrivals, granting King Durran a short time to seek out King Otto Gardener and his uncle and brother Prince Gawen and Prince Gordan, respectively. In the resulting duel King Durran made short work of King Otto, once again killing a King of the Reach and breaking the resolve of their host. The newly-made King Gordan Gardener ordered a retreat, yielding to the Stormlands Harvest Hall. The following morning the two Kings met for a parley, agreeing to the exchange of noble prisoners and an end to hostilities with the entirety of the occupied Stormlands being freed. King Durran XXVII Durrandon would be hailed as a hero, and shortly after the end of the war he married Lady Evelyn Dondarrion and produced three children: Argilac, Baldric, and Tyana. In 30 AA tensions with House Gardener would again boil over into open conflict. King Durran marshaled his army and marched for Harvest Hall, anticipating the blow to land where the last war had ended. King Gardener, however, marched further south-- Blackhaven would be his target. In the fields around the seat of House Dondarrion the Stormlanders and the Reachmen would fight for a full day until the Stormlanders claimed victory, but at a grievous cost. King Durran suffered a mortal wound, dying within a fortnight. The Reign of King Argilac X Durrandon Regency left many lords of the Stormlands apprehensive after the situations that evolved surrounding Lord Errol. Fortunately, the late King Durran's rule left many houses deeply loyal to his own-- none moreso than House Dondarrion of Blackhaven. Lord Dondarrion lead a council of regents who governed ably until young Argilac came into his crown. Soon after he married Myranda Penrose and she bore an heir, Monfryd. King Argilac oversaw a peaceful period in the Stormlands, a welcome change from the skirmishes along the border with the Reach. This came to an abrupt end when to the south the King of the Greenbelt, Edgar Yronwood, attempted to seize the northern half of the Boneway. King Argilac would ride out to meet him in still another Battle of Blackhaven. This battle would put an end not only to Yronwood's effort to seize Blackhaven but to King Edgar Yronwood and King Argilac Durrandon both. The Curse of Sixteen Years King Argilac's only son, Monfryd, became king. Crowned Monfryd VI Durrandon, he married Lady Jocelyn Swann and sired four children on her-- three of them boys. At last House Durrandon would not teeter on the brink of extinction. Unfortunately, shortly after his eldest son's sixteenth name day King Monfryd VI Durrandon died of an infection. Monfryd VII would inherit. His reign would be marked by a war with House Lannister of Casterly Rock, one which would in short order replace House Durrandon on the precipice of extinction-- King Monfryd VII Durrandon perished in the fighting alongside both of his brothers only twelve years after taking the throne. His cousin, Harmon Durrandon, inherited. King Harmon I Durrandon secured peace by marrying his aunt, Monfryd VII's sole surviving sibling, to King Lannister. His reign would otherwise be unremarkable except for its length-- only a decade on a hunting accident killed King Harmon. Rolland Durrandon, First of His Name, would inherit from his father. King Rolland was older than any recent Durrandon king-- at twenty, there was no fear of a regency. For twenty stable years he reigned, evidently breaking the curse that many whispered had laid House Durrandon low for near on a century now. King Rolland would wage a war against the Three Daughters alongside House Celtigar in 106 AA, winning and laying claim to the Stepstones. His ambition would not be sated, however, and he marched south after the Greenbelt but was repulsed. Durran XXVII Durrandon sought to reclaim that which his father King Rolland had won and lost, but would pay dearly for his greed. Only seven years into his reign King Durran, Twenty-Seventh of His Name, would perish fighting in the Stepstones without issue. His brother, Maldon, inherited. Maldon married his brother's widow, Cassana Estermont, and got on her a son in short order named Monfryd. Some would whisper again of a curse, however, as sixteen years later King Maldon I Durrandon died. Monfryd VIII inherited, and while many Durrandon vassals would be distressed by his age the young King ruled ably for seventeen years. He married a distant cousin, Ysilla, and bore several children. He, too, died in a hunting accident. The Curse is Broken Monfryd VIII's eldest son, Harmon II, ruled for twenty-three long years. At last the lords of the Stormlands breathed a sigh of relief-- two centuries of unstable rule by a house of short-lived Kings seemed to be broken. Harmon II fathered five children, returning House Durrandon from the brink of extinction again. In 167 AA King Harmon II rode south to once again fend off House Yronwood, the war claiming the life of King Cletus III Yronwood. Harmon II would pass in 174 AA. King Rolland II Durrandon would inherit from his father a healthy Kingdom, fresh from a victory over House Yronwood. His efforts towards peace and prosperity would not go unrewarded, and the much-loved king would rule for twenty-three years of his own. His own son, Alessander I Durrandon, proved less lucky-- twelve years into his reign he, his heir, and his brother all passed in the Great Spring Sickness. Storm's End would pass to Harmon III Durrandon, who ruled for thirteen years. Harmon III's successor, Durran XXIX, swore that he would break his family's curse upon taking the throne. True to his word, Durran XXIX ruled for twenty-six years-- the longest a Durrandon King had reigned since Argilac the Arrogant. His rule would pass without remark, a gift for a region as embattled as the Stormlands had become. Rolland III Durrandon would succeed King Durran XXIX, ruling for fifteen years from 248 AA to 263 AA. His son, Harmon IV, ruled a further twenty-six years to 289 AA. Rule of the Stormlands rests now in the hands of King Durran XXX Durrandon. His reign has already been marked by great military success and expansion exceeding that of Rolland II, even-- King Durran XXX conquered lands lost to House Durrandon since before the Failed Conquest, expanding their realm as far north as the Blackwater Rush. In the War of the Trident the Storm King compelled House Darklyn to bend the knee, and after a fierce series of battles compelled House Celtigar to do the same. As the Reach made an effort to roll back the Stormlands' latest conquest, King Durran XXX met them in the field and slew Prince Gawen Gardener, routing the Reachmen and claiming for House Durrandon the Valyrian steel helm of House Bulwer. Upon his return from the Dusklands, King Durran reversed another invasion by House Yronwood. Wars and Battles of the Stormlands King Edmund's War In the immediate aftermath of Aegon's Failed Conquest, King Edmund I Gardener invaded and conquered the Dornish Marches. Owing to the ineffective regency of King Durran XXVII Durrandon, for eighteen years the Reachmen would rule these lands. In the Battle of Blackhaven, the Battle of the Marcher Hills, and the Hammerfall at Harvest Hall, the Kingdom of the Storm would regain its lost lands and claim the lives of several Gardeners. Skirmishes with the Greenbelt Several times since the Failed Conquest both House Durrandon and House Yronwood have made efforts to seize each other's lands. Various Yronwoods laying claim to the title of Bloodroyal attempted to invade through the Boneway, and each time the Yronwood forces were sent back over the Wyl River in defeat. The most recent war was when the Stormlands invaded the Kingdom of the Greenbelt in The Storm War, but were pushed back in defeat. '''The False Storms War 80AA - 82AA: After King Monfryd VII Durrandon slaughtered the Gardener soldiers at the Battle of Stonebridge (now Bitterbridge), it seemed that the Stormlands would conquer most of the northern Reach. Despite his bannerman's council, King Jason Lannister wished to aid the Reach and keep the balance of power. His host sets out upon a warpath and wins bloody victory after victory, starting at Red Lake. Lannister links up with Tarly and Hightower at Highgarden and marches northward along the Mander. At the Battle of the Fallen Stags, Jason Lannister personally kills Monfryd VII and all of his sons. The war is essentially over following the battle, as the new Storm King Harmon I Durrandon offers his cousin, Monfryd VII's last surviving child, as a wife to King Jason Lannister. War of the Trident The Stormlands would be involved in the periphery of the War of the Trident, as King Durran XXX opted against getting involved until the timing seemed right. At last he sprung over the Blackwater Rush, and House Darklyn surrendered without a fight. After several fierce battles, House Celtigar too surrendered. The host of Prince Gawen Gardener turned east to face the Stormlanders, but his host too would be broken. In relatively short succession the Stormlands conquered the lands leading up to the Blackwater Rush and gained the fealty of House Darklyn and House Celtigar, and killed a Prince of House Gardener in the offing. Houses Sworn to House Durrandon of Storm's End The principle noble houses sworn to House Durrandon of Storm's End are: * House Caron of Nightsong ** House Cole of Cole Hall ** House Gower of Gower Keep * House Connington of Griffon's Roost ** House Morrigen of Crow's Nest * House Dondarrion of Blackhaven ** House Hasty of Hasty Hall ** House Rogers of Amberly ** House Tudbury of Tudbury House * House Errol of Haystack Hall ** House Bolling of Bolling ** House Buckler of Bronzegate * House Estermont of Greenstone ** House Horpe of Horpe Hall * House Massey of Stonedance ** House Bar Emmon of Sharp Point ** House Edgerton of Edgerton ** House Pyle of Pyle Hall * House Penrose of the Parchments ** House Peasbury of Poddingfield ** House Wensington of Wensington * House Selmy of Harvest Hall ** House Swygert of Swygert ** House Wagstaff of Wagstaff * House Swann of Stonehelm ** House Grandison of Grandview ** House Staedmon of Broad Arch * House Tarth of Evenfall Hall ** House Lonmouth of Skull Valley ** House Musgood of Musgood Keep * House Toyne of the Rainwood ** House Cafferan of Fawnton ** House Fell of Fellwood * House Trant of Gallowsgrey ** House Herston of Herston ** House Kellington of Kellington * House Wendwater of Wendwater ** House Mallery of Mallery Keep * House Wylde of Rain House ** House Mertyns of Mistwood ** House Whitehead of Weeping Tower Category:Stormlands Category:Westeros Category:Kingdom of the Stormlands Category:Kingdom